Antiseptic mouthpiece for telephones



F. c. TABLER.

ANTISEPTIOMOUTHPIECE FOR TELEPHONES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17, 1919.

1,389,914. PatentedSept. 6, 1921.

z 47 A? m UNITED STATES,

FRANK C. TABLER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO: THE ANTI-BAOILLI COM- PATENT OFFICE.

IPALTY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

ANTISEPTIC MOUTHPIEGE FOR TELEPHONES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

Application filed November 17, 1919. Serial No. 338,658.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK C. TABLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Antiseptic Mouthpieces for Telephones, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to antiseptic mouthpieces for telephones, my present invention being an improvement upon the types of antiseptic mouthpieces disclosed in United States Letters Patent issued to myself and my assignee, Gus V. R. Mechin October 6, 1908, No. 900,447, and May 14, 1912, No. 1,026,414.

The principal objects of my present invention are, to generally improve upon and simplify the constructions disclosed in the patents aforesaid; to provide a relatively simple antiseptic mouthpiece which can be easily and cheaply manufactured and which is applicable for use upon the transmitters of practically all formsof telephones now in general use; to provide a mouthpiece that serves as a container for a piece of fabric or absorbent material that is saturated with a solution or compound that performs the functions of a germicide and a bacillicide, thereby rendering the mouthpiece wholly antiseptic and preventing the dissemination of disease germs amongusers of the telephone; to provide a construction which will minimize the evaporation of the antiseptic solution or germicidal agent and further to provide an attachment which while serving as a protection for the face plate of the telephone transmitter permits unobstructed view of the number plate that is usually positioned on the upper portion of the face plate.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction andarrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is avertical section taken through the center of an antiseptic mouthpiece of my improved construction and showing the same applied to the transmitter of a telephone.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the mouthpiece.

Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and with parts broken away for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the construction of the mouthpiece.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, 10 designates the transmitter of an ordinary telephone, said transmitter belng carried by the upper end of a standard 11, and arranged on the upper portion of the face plate 12 of said transmitter is a small plate 13 which bears the number of the telephone.

The main body portion of my improved mouthpiece is in the form of an annular housing and said housing comprises front and rear portions that are preferably constructed of metal. The rear portion comprises a circular disk or plate 1 1 with the edge of which is formed integral a forwardly projecting internally threaded flange 15. Formed integral with the central portion of the plate and projecting rearwardly therefrom is a tubular member 16, the rear end of which is externally threaded in order that it may be screw-seated in the threaded opening that is formed in the center of the face plate 12 and which last mentioned opening receives the ordinary mouthpiece forming a part of the transmitter.

Formed on the inner face of the plate or disk 14 is a recess 17, the edge of which is concentric with the opening through the tubular extension 16 and removably positioned'in this recess is a disk 18, preferably of metal, the central portion of which is perforated as designated by 19. The outer portion of the mouthpiece comprises an annular wall 20, the rear portion of which is externally threaded so as to be screw-seated in the internally threaded flange 15, and extending inwardly from the outer edge of the annular wall 20 is a conical front wall 21 in the center of which is formed a circular opening 22. The diameter of this opening 22 is approximately the same as the diameter of the opening through tubular extension 16, and when the outer member of the housing is properly applied to the rear member, the edge of the conical wall around said opening '22 terminates in a vertical plane immediately in front of the perforated plate 18.

Positioned immediately adjacent to the annular Wall 20 is a ring-shaped member 23 of absorbent material, and positioned immediately against the inner face of plate 14 and overlying the perforated plate 18 is a section of fabric 24 such as ordinary surgical gauze. When the parts of the mouthpiece are properly assembled, the edge of this fabric section 24: is positioned between the inner edge of the absorbentmember 23 and the outer edge of plate 14, and by virtue of this contact, the antiseptic solution or germicidal agent with which the absorbent ring 23 is impregnated will by capillary attraction pass onto and impregnate the entire section of gauze.

When the front member of the mouthpiece is properly applied to the rear member, the inner edge 22 of the conical wall 21 will press the central portion of the section of gauze 24 against the perforated plate 18 thereby firmly holding the section of gauze in proper position within the mouthpiece, and likewise holding the perforated plate 18 in proper position within its recess 17 in the plate 1 1.

The perforations in plate 19 and the relatively small openings in the fabric section 524. permit the sound waves of the voice of a person speaking into the mouthpiece to readily enter the transmitter of the, telephone and any germs or bacilli that are carried on the mouthpiece will be destroyed upon coming in contact with the germicidal agent or antiseptic solution with which the fabric section 24 is impregnated.

Inasmuch as the absorbent member 28 is contained wholly within an annular chamber and said chamber being practically closed, there will be very little, if any, loss of the antiseptic solution through evaporation, for it will be understood there is practically no circulation. of air through the chamber in which the absorbent material is located.

The mouthpiece contemplated by my invention is located directly in front of the face plate 12 of the transmitter, and by virtue of such position, said mouthpiece affords a certain amount of protection for the face plate against discoloration and at the same time said mouthpiece is spaced apart from said face plate so that the number plate 13 on the upper portion of said face plate is readily visible to users of the telephone. By virtue of the fact that the inner edge 22 of the conical plate 21 is in direct alinement with the opening through the tubular extension 16 the sound waves passing through the mouthpiece are concentrated and in such condition pass into the transmitter 10 without diffusion, and thus my improved mouthpiece in no wise decreases the efficiency of the transmitter to which it is attached.

Obviously antiseptic mouthpieees of my improved construction can be advantageously used on all forms of dictaphones or recording phonographs and likewise upon speaking tubes and the like.

An antiseptic mouthpiece of my improved construction is comparatively simple, can be easily and cheaply manufactured, is capable of being readily assembled or taken apart, in no wise affects the service of the telephone transmitter to which it is applied and said mouthpiece is very effective in minimizing the diffusion of noxious germs and bacilli among users of the same telephone transmitters.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved antiseptic mouthpiece can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An antiseptic mouthpiece for telephone transmitters comprising a housing formed in two sections, the rear section being provided with a tubular extension adapted to be secured in the transmitter, the front section being provided with an inwardly extending conical wall, said two sections having threaded engagement with each other, a chamber being thus formed between the conical wall and rear section, and an antiseptic material in said chamber, which is held in position by and between said two sections.

2. An antiseptic mouthpiece for telephone transmitters comprising a housing formed in two sections, the inner section being adapted to be secured to the transmitter, a conical wall extending inwardly from the outer section, a fabric seated in the inner section and being held therein by said conical wall, and an antiseptic material in the chamber between the housing sections and in contact with said fabric.

An antiseptic mouthpiece for telephone transmitters comprising an inner and an outer section disposed with a chamber between, said inner section having a hollow tube rearwardly projecting therefrom, said outer section having a conical wall projecting inwardly and having an opening in alinement with said'tube, a perforated disk positioned over the outer opening of the tube, a fabric positioned over the disk, said disk and fabric being held in place by said coni' cal wall, and an antiseptic material in the chamber formed between the aforesaid sections, said material being in contact with said fabric.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature this 7th day of November, 1919.

FRANK C. TABLER. 

